Video: Using Illustrator files in Photoshop and InDesign

One of the great things about the Creative Suite is the fact that all of the apps integrate together, and Adobe Illustrator is no different. You can take the artwork that you create inside of Adobe Illustrator, and interact with it in various other applications in the Creative Suite as well. In this movie, I'll explore two examples of that, and how you can utilize the artwork you create in those applications. The first one is going to be Photoshop. So I'm going to jump over into Photoshop for just a minute, and inside of Photoshop, I'm going to create a new document. I'm going to go to File > New, and I'm just going to pick one of the Web sizes that we have.

Adobe Illustrator can be used to accomplish many different design tasks, from illustration to app development. This course demonstrates core concepts and techniques that can be applied to any workflow—for print, the web, or building assets that will find their way into other applications. Author Justin Seeley explains the elements that make up vector graphics (paths, strokes, and fills) while showing how to use each of the drawing tools, and demonstrates how to combine and clean up paths and organize them into groups and layers. The course also covers text editing, working with color, effects, and much more.

Using Illustrator files in Photoshop and InDesign

One of the great things about the Creative Suite is the fact that all of theapps integrate together, and Adobe Illustrator is no different.You can take the artwork that you create inside of Adobe Illustrator, andinteract with it in various other applications in the Creative Suite as well.In this movie, I'll explore two examples of that, and how you can utilize theartwork you create in those applications.The first one is going to be Photoshop.So I'm going to jump over into Photoshop for just a minute, and inside ofPhotoshop, I'm going to create a new document.I'm going to go to File > New, and I'm just going to pick one of the Web sizes that we have.

So I'm going to choose Web from the Preset menu, and 800 by 600 is okay.I'll hit OK, and I get a new document.Let's say, for instance, that I'm building a small application mockup, and I needthe logo for the Roux Academy.Well, I can go over into Illustrator, and I can actually select this logo, and thendrop it directly into Photoshop.All I have to do is select it, and then copy it to my clipboard with Command+C or Control+C.When I go back over into Photoshop, I can paste it with Command+V or Control+V.When I do that, it's going to bring up a dialog box that asks me how I want to paste it in.

You have the choice between Smart Object, Pixels, Paths, and Shape Layers.In most cases, you want to create something called a Smart Object.If I click OK, it pastes in the logo.I can then resize it any way I want, and put it anywhere I want in my document.I'll put it somewhere like this.You hit Enter to commit.The great thing about Smart Objects in Photoshop is the fact that they retaintheir vector capabilities,meaning I can scale this thing up or down anyway I want, and it's not goingto affect the quality.

The other great thing is the fact that this is actually tied to an Illustrator file.So if I wanted to get in here and edit this, I can come over to the Smart Objectover here on the Layers panel, double-click on it,it's going to tell me that I'm leaving Photoshop, and that's okay; I'll just hitOK, and it takes me over to Illustrator.Now you'll notice when I jump over to Illustrator that this is not the same file.Here's the original file I started with; here is the other one.It gives me a vector smart object file. Because I copied and pasted fromIllustrator, it doesn't actually link it to the original file.

However, since I'm working on this vector object, I now have my ownindependent version of it,so I can make any change I want.For instance, let's go ahead and change the R, and let's make that black.Double-click, and then I'll save it with Command+S or Control+S. Once I do that, Ican close it, and watch what happens when I jump back into Photoshop.The R automatically updates to be black, because I made that change inside of Illustrator.So I now have the ability to make any changes I want inside of Illustrator, andhave them automatically show up here in Photoshop.

So I can go do any number of the cool things you're able to do with vectorsinside of Illustrator, and have that same capability basically duplicated hereinside of Photoshop; pretty neat.Now let's close this up, and I'll close Photoshop, and let's go over into Adobe InDesign.Adobe InDesign works much the same way.In this case, I'm going to create a new document, and I'll just accept thedefaults for now, and I'm going to place this logo into the document.Let's say maybe I'm working on a piece of letterhead, or a flyer, and I need thatlogo somewhere on the page.

In InDesign, I'll go to File, and choose Place, or you can hit Command+D orControl+D. I'll then go out to my Desktop, and find my Exercise Files folder,and then I'll go down into Chapter 15, and I'll find other_apps, and then I'll hit Open.When I hit open, it gives me my logo on something called a loaded cursor.With that loaded cursor, I can then click and drag to define a box to put it in,or I can simply click wherever I want it to go.Once I click, it's placed into my document, and it's placed at the exact sizethat it was inside of Illustrator.

I then have the ability to manipulate this in any way I see fit.I can also make a change to this inside of Illustrator, and have it update inthe InDesign document.So let's jump back into Illustrator for a moment, and I'm working on the other_apps file, and let's change the text down here at the bottom.I'll double-click, and I'll change this text to be black.I'll also change the R to be black, and let's change this A to black as well.

So the only thing basically in color is the A in the middle.I'll then exit Isolation mode, and save it.When I jump over into InDesign, you're not going to see anything right off thebat, except for this little warning sign.If I click that warning sign, it automatically updates this to the latest version.You could also have done that from the Links panel in InDesign as well.The great thing about InDesign, versus Photoshop, is that this is always tiedto that original file.Therefore, any time I make a change to it Illustrator, and then open this file backup in InDesign, InDesign is automatically going to warn me, hey, you might'vechanged this while were outside of InDesign; do you want to update it?You click that little button, and it instantly updates, making sure that allof my designs, no matter how much I change them, remain consistent across all different spaces.

So as you can see, Illustrator works really well with the other Creative Suiteapplications, and when you're designing across multiple platforms andsubstrates, it's important to use artwork that's flexible, and Illustrator iscertainly that.

Learn by watching, listening, and doing, Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along Premium memberships include access to all exercise files in the library.

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Learn by watching, listening, and doing! Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along. Exercise files are available with all Premium memberships.
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